Acts 11:1-18 “Free from the Law to Obey the Will of God” or “Out of our Comfort Zone” When the Apostle Peter visited a captain of the Roman guard named Cornelius in Acts 10, his Jewish friends were angry with him. You see, they were angry because Cornelius was a gentile and Peter was a Jew; in their eyes, Jews and gentiles did not mix. According to the Bible Encyclopedia, “in New Testament times, Jews treated gentiles with the most extreme aversion, scorn and hatred. They were regarded as unclean, with whom it was unlawful to have any friendly intercourse. They were the enemies of God and His people, to whom the knowledge of God was denied unless they became proselytes, and even then they could not, as in ancient times, be admitted to full fellowship. Jews were forbidden to counsel them, and if they asked about Divine things they were to be cursed” (bibleencyclopedia/gentiles.htm). Cornelius had two problems. First he was a gentile and second he was a captain in the Roman army. The Romans were occupying Judea, which was Israel at the time, and preventing them from declaring their own kingdom. Not only did they occupy Israel and made it a part of the Roman Empire, the Jews had to pay high taxes to the Rome to help maintain the Roman government and the Roman army. When Peter visited the Roman captain named Cornelius, you can imagine and anger the Jews felt. Why was Peter visiting the enemy? Why was Peter fraternizing with the man who could lead an army against any Jew suspected of trying to overthrow Caesar? Peter visited Cornelius in Caesarea, about 70 miles from Jerusalem. But the news spread like wildfire among the other apostles and all the believers in Judea. Doesn’t it remind you of Jesus and how news of his interaction with the tax collectors and sinners made some people mad? Remember, Jesus himself said in Matthew 5:10, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Another translation put it this way, “happy are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires; the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to them!” So when you do the right thing and people criticize you, be happy. You are doing the will of God and God does not operate a popularity contest. So when Peter arrived in Jerusalem, he was confronted by those who wanted the Gentiles to first become Jews before becoming Christians. They said to Peter, “You were a guest in the home of gentiles, and you even ate with them!” You see, eating with someone was a sign of friendship and fellowship and so by eating with Cornelius, Peter was accepting him as a friend and a brother. That is why we celebrate the Eucharist and eat not only with each other but we eat with Jesus. By eating with Jesus and with each other, we are declaring to the world that we are no longer strangers to one another but that we are friends and family of Christ. Peter took the time to explain to those who confronted him and accused him of eating with the gentiles why he did so. He told them how he was praying in the city of Joppa, about 30 miles from Caesarea, when he had a vision. It was not a dream, but a vision. A dream happens when you’re asleep. A vision takes place while you are awake. If it had been a dream, they could have said Peter’s mind was playing tricks on him or that he had eaten too much before going to bed. But Peter was praying and had a vision; he was praying and an image appeared right before his eyes. He saw something looking like a large bed sheet coming down and being lowered by the four corners from heaven. The sheet stopped next to Peter. When he looked inside, he saw domesticated and wild animals, all the animals that the Jewish law had declared unclean and not fit to be eaten by any good Jew. Peter heard a voice say, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat!” But Peter knew the animals the Lord was showing him were declared unclean by the Jewish law and confirmed by the Rabbis. He was a good Jew. He was not going to eat any defiled and unclean animal. When peter heard the voice say, “Get up, Peter and eat,” he answered, “Certainly not, Lord! I have never eaten any ritually unclean or defiled food.” Then the voice from heaven said to Peter, “Do not consider anything unclean that God has declared clean.” This happened three times. Here again we see the use of a number that is very important in the Bible. The number three represents things that are solid, real, complete and whole. The number three represents three dimensions of length, breadth, and height. It represents divine perfection. The three patriarchs of Israel were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In First Corinthians 13, Paul names three virtues that are at the top of the list: “Faith, Hope and Love.” Before Jesus began his ministry, he was tempted three times by Satan. There were three apostles who witnessed the transfiguration and they were Peter, James and John. We see the Trinity as the three persons in the Godhead. Jesus rose from death on the third day (biblestudy.org/bibleref/meaning-of-numbers-in-bible/3.html). When Peter saw the vision three times, God was saying the vision was complete and the message was of divine perfection. What was the message? The animals in the sheet from heaven that Peter saw represented all nations of the world because they were of different kinds. God was saying to Peter, there are no unclean persons and nobody is unworthy of God’s grace. Peter had been tied to the Jewish law and so he was restricted to who he could talk to and where he could go. But God was setting him free from the Jewish law so that he would obey the will of God. God was telling him to step out of his comfort zone and reach out to those that people in the church might consider unworthy of God’s love, undeserving of God’s grace, and who are condemned to hell. The Gospel came through the Jews, but God wanted it to be taken to all people everywhere. It is a universal Gospel and no one nation, tribe, or group of people can claim it as theirs alone. Nobody is unclean and nobody is defiled in God’s sight. God told Saul in I Samuel 16:7, I do not judge as people judge. People look at the outward appearance, but I look at the heart.” We who follow Christ must be like him because he wants to free us from the law so we will obey the will of God. Christ wants to get us out of our comfort zones. The Jews refused to travel through the cities of the Samaritans because they hated them, but Jesus did because he cared for them. The Jews would not become friends with anyone who was a gentile, but Jesus became the friend of all people. We must get out of our comfort zones to take the Gospel of Christ to all people. To meet those who make us uneasy, to go to places where we think Christ will never be. Jesus wants us to stop being self-righteous and practice true service to all we meet. Many people feel they’re not good enough to come to Church. We must make church good enough to receive them. Before he met Christ, Peter only wanted to meet and talk with his own kind of people. But because of Christ, Peter could ignore what his friends were saying to reach out to Cornelius. Who knows how Peter may have influenced the life of Cornelius? Peter did the will of God despite the complaints. When we know God’s will, let us help others understand it. Before he met Christ, Peter was self-righteous. After Christ, he understood real service. Richard Foster writes about the difference between self-righteousness service and true service. He wrote: “Self-righteous service comes through human effort. True service comes from a relationship with the divine Other deep inside. Self-righteous service is impressed with the big deal. True service finds it almost impossible to distinguish the small from the large service. Self-righteous service requires external rewards. True service rests contented in hiddenness. Self-righteous service is highly concerned about results. True service is free of the need to calculate results. Self-righteous service picks and chooses whom to serve. True service is indiscriminate in its ministry. Self-righteous service is affected by moods and whims. True service ministers simply and faithfully because there is a need. Self-righteous service is temporary. True service is a life-style. Self-righteous service is without sensitivity. It insists on meeting the need even when to do so would be destructive. True service can withhold the service as freely as perform it. Self-righteous service fractures community. True service, on the other hand, builds community. This week, may the Spirit open our eyes to see ways in which we have been tied to laws and customs that exclude other people and keep us from reaching out to them. May we become free from the law to obey the will of God; may we become from our comfort zones to do God’s will in unusual and unexpected ways, in Jesus’ name, amen.
Posted on: Sat, 01 Feb 2014 15:14:23 +0000
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